OpEd By Jan Chaffin

On Thursday, August 10, 2017, my cousin texted me from Charlottesville concerned about the coming weekend’s three planned demonstrations. A far-right group with ties to white supremacists was scheduled to protest the planned removal of a long-standing Robert E. Lee statue from the city’s Lee Park (newly re-named Emancipation Park) on Saturday while nearby at least two other groups, including Black Lives Matter, were protesting the presence of the far-right group and were supporting the statue’s removal. She predicted a perfect storm of violence.

She also informed me the far-right had hired The Warlocks MC as “security”. She mentioned the ACLU was defending the freedom of the far-right to meet and speak in public. Apparently, she added, this whole campaign to remove the statue arose after Charlottesville Vice Mayor Belamy responded to a letter written by one of his students. A 13 year old had written that the statue scared her. As it turned out, she is the daughter of the Vice Mayor’s wife. City Council hired a commission to decide what to do, then ignored everyone’s input. They decided against a city-wide referendum, so folks all chose sides. The topic attracted the attention and interest of various extreme right and left leaning groups. Charlottesville is one of many southern towns facing questions about keeping its confederate past on display.

I didn’t think too much about it until I received more texts from her Friday afternoon and Saturday morning. Much was transpiring as she wrote. My dear cousin describes herself as a Libertarian. She was barricading her home and had her guns loaded. Extreme reaction, I thought at the time.

A life-long friend from Charlottesville texted me our town was on CNN.  I turned on the news to watch live footage of Saturday’s gathering just before the noon Lee Park far-right rally. She also indicated there had been a terrifyingly violent torchlight white supremacist march across UVa campus the night before. The media images I saw were reminiscent of KKK clan footage except the marchers were hoodless. Local university and government officials were quick to decry the violence, but the Saturday gathering was still sanctioned.

A local white supremacist named Jason Kessler coordinated with well-known neo-Nazi Richard Spenser to organize the far-right weekend of activities, according to CNN. This faction is apparently called the “alt-right”. There was also believed by the media to be a presence of alt-left protesters such as Antifa. CNN displayed quotes from former KKK Grand Wizard David Duke who was present at the rally. The remarks were clearly inflammatory and pro-Trump, linking Trump’s promise to make America great again to their agenda. The theme was “Unite the Right”.

Here is what I saw on CNN as I watched live coverage from a little before 9am to 11:30am Pacific Time. Please note everything that follows is filtered by the video and commentary CNN chose to air. The sound was mostly muted and correspondents were interpreting the video footage.

The rally was due to begin at noon Eastern Time. I saw mostly white men. Many were dressed in white polo shirts with cropped, side-buzzed hair. A significant portion of the alt-right protesters were carrying prepared white shields with black emblems emblazoned on them and were lined up as if ready to mobilize. Many wore protective head gear and carried confederate and other flags with long poles which they proceeded to use as weapons when approached by the counter protesters.

I didn’t see any guns in the footage but later saw copious photos of heavily armed militia members walking downtown. Surely this is illegal I think, but discover Charlottesville allows protesters to openly carry firearms in public.

A police presence was noticeable but the officers seemed to stand idly by as the sides approached each other with verbal taunts. There was no attempt to insert themselves between the arguing factions. The confrontation escalated into episodes of violence then several minutes ensued of full on physical violence.

I saw very few women and not many black men in the crowd, just lots of white males. The alt-right and the police seemed to be pepper spraying the counter protesters but it was hard to tell who were the police and who were the similarly-clad protesters. Hand to hand combat was observed throughout the crowd and many men were using flag poles as weapons. The police allowed the engagement to continue.

For some reason, my first impression was that these weren’t locals; these were mostly hired goons on all sides with a few locals drawn to each.  As the footage continued, I determined something of a distinction between the organized alt-right and the homespun counter protesters. It looked sort of faked to me – like the confrontations were staged. But the blood was real. Everyone everywhere was videoing the event with their phones, stepping up to the conflict, then dashing away from harm. The bits of audio that were aired were scary in their intensity and confusion.

After a few minutes, the state police formed a line and started moving towards the fighting cluster. Since I couldn’t hear the audio, I relied on the commentator’s narrative. Apparently the police declared the gathering unlawful and demanded that everyone disperse. Everyone responded immediately and separated.

The police herded everyone into side streets and attempted to split up the main body of conflict into splinter groups. I felt all sorts of emotions watching my personal turf on national TV – bewildered, angered, saddened, scared. My cousin later said she was embarrassed as well as grief-stricken.

I watched as cameras followed separate groups up Market Street towards the downtown parking garage. Violent engagements persisted, one on one and two on one while police watched. I saw them motion to some of the fighters, casually suggesting they break it up after watching them scuffle for about 30 seconds.

Inside the parking garage I watched footage of a black man confronting angry white men, talking and shaking each of their hands, apparently defusing their anger. It was one of the few signs of attempts to keep peace.

At that point, I saw signs of some rather serious injuries although it appeared police were cordoning and blocking views of the injured sideliners sitting on the sidewalk being treated not my medics or cops but by other protesters.

The National Guard was called in at that point and lined up ready to mobilize. By then, rioting protesters headed down McIntire Road towards McIntire Park.

Alt right spokesman and UVa graduate Richard Spenser vowed this was not over. David Duke leered ‘we’ll be back’.

By this time, I had to prepare for work. I was shaken and frazzled by all I’d seen and didn’t want to leave my internet and media access, knowing there was no cell reception in the redwoods. Shortly after I arrived, I checked the CNN website and discovered someone had plowed into a crowd of counter-protesters by Timberlake Drug Store killing one and injuring many others.

I managed to get enough signal to text my friend and ask if the crash was deliberate. Yes she answered. I went a little ballistic realizing the alt right had committed murder in my home town. After watching the replaying footage over and over, I had to wonder if the authorities invested with protecting its citizens had failed to prevent a tragedy, if their complacence had in fact encouraged it.

During the entire ordeal, Trump was tweetless. Again, passively, tacitly approving the confrontation by his lack of disapproval.

Later, I learned two state police officers were killed in a helicopter crash while they were monitoring the incidents. Three lives lost to a scary, armed assemblage of bigotry and hate, perhaps inadvertently facilitated by local open carry laws. The responses from individual Charlottesville officials were largely eloquent… after the fact.

My cousin has been deeply affected as have all my dear friends and family in my home town by the violent invasion of the alt right terror squads. In fact, intimidation appears to be their intention. What is hopeful is the coming together of citizens such as my cousin in support of the victims.

Was this the last gasps of a dying, resistant culture or a resurgence of newly empowered supremacists and domestic terrorists?

I love Charlottesville. I grew up there. I buried both parents at the funeral home across from the Lee statue. I understand why the idea of glorifying the confederacy is distasteful. But trying to erase history is also distasteful and potentially dangerous. It happened, and could happen again. Erect more statues that tell more of the story, but don’t deny the past, as indefensible as it might seem.

That was my opinion last week. Now, I don’t know. History is seen through the lens of the dominant culture. It might be time to reframe the view, leave a better legacy. Maybe it’s time the statues of Lee and friends are fired and recast.